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Is velvet/velveteen always this difficult to deal with?
ahrizel Beginner PA Member since 4/22/12 Posts: 293	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 8/14/12 1:59 PM I'm not actually working with velvet, but nowale corduroy. I think it's a similiar experience though. Unravels like hell, pulls apart easily on stitched seams, shreds like the dickens and all other sorts of fun. And this is cotton, not rayon or silk like some velvets. Is this the typical experience or am I just lucky? Because I have pants and a jerkin to make my husband from cotton velvet coming up and I"m starting to dread the concept. And seriously rethinking the idea of making a velvet dress for a young lady for Christmas. So is this normal fun and games with these fabrics? And if so any tips to make the process of working with these fabrics easier? Mary
beauturbo Advanced CA USA Member since 5/2/09 Posts: 1426	Login to reply to this post In reply to ahrizel << 1 member likes this. Date: 8/14/12 3:58 PM No, I don't think that would be the typical experience. I think those kind of fabrics do just shed a bit more than others, on the cut edges of them of course,and maybe ravel a bit more, but I don't think they should actually pull apart at the seams, after you have sewn even just a regular straight stitch seam with them, any more than any other kind of fabrics at all. That seems kind of weird to me, and probably something else just wrong instead, unless you got just some horribly cheap and badly made corduroy fabric instead. If you sew a seam, and then pull on your fabric, and the actual fabric and weave of it, shift and separate, under the place you just sewed on, and it's corduroy, maybe it's just old and rotten or badly made, and just dump it and get some better made corduroy instead.
stirwatersblue Intermediate KS USA Member since 12/13/08 Posts: 2465	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 8/14/12 5:15 PM Velvet (real, plush pile velvet) is notoriously tricky to sew, but only because the pile can cause the fabric to creep as you work on it. The problems you're describing are definitely NOT the norm for any kind of velveteen or corduroy I've ever worked with. Poor you! Sounds like you just got an unfortunate batch. Not really sure what to recommend at this point... any chance you can do as Beauturbo suggests and swap out a different fabric for this project? ------ ~Gem in the prairie
Courtney Ostaff   Intermediate WV USA Member since 11/23/10 Posts: 624	Login to reply to this post In reply to ahrizel << Like this post Date: 8/14/12 5:43 PM Quote: pulls apart easily on stitched seams, shreds like the dickens No, and I've sewn with wide-wale corduroy before. I made myself a 3-piece suit when I was in high school, and loved it, because it was so easy to work with.
ahrizel Beginner PA Member since 4/22/12 Posts: 293	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 8/14/12 6:15 PM Well the fabric is several years old from Joann's, which may well explain things Unfortunately I can't change fabric, already finished the skirt from it and have the bodice to do tonight from it. Once I worked hard on the skirt waistband on overstitched the heck out of it, I got to behave. But I reinforced the heck out of it. It looks nice, but it's been a pain to work with. I did a bias face waistband on the gore skirt and when I threaded the elastic through it ripped along the seam edge a little. I had to rip out the lower seam, resew the top edge and I zigged zagged the top edge over the bias before and after I flipped it over. As I said it looks really nice. But the princess seam bodice I have to do tonite gives me the willies. Live and learn on the fabric, buy better next time. My husband's fabric isn't the same stuff, thank goodness. Chalk it up to a learning experience. Mary
Courtney Ostaff   Intermediate WV USA Member since 11/23/10 Posts: 624	Login to reply to this post In reply to ahrizel << 3 members like this. Date: 8/14/12 6:35 PM I'd be in the fetal position on the floor, bless your heart!
Sauvage   Advanced Beginner MA USA Member since 7/22/09 Posts: 545	Login to reply to this post 1 member likes this. Date: 8/14/12 9:58 PM Mary, I worked with some really horrid dark blue velveteen for costumes once. For weeks afterwards I kept thinking there was some infestation in the stash and sewing-related areas because of all the tiny dark flecks scattered at random.... All gone now, though. May your horrid corduroy soon be just a memory. (I may in fact have made a jerkin from it; certainly made pumpkin pants.) ------ Jeanne "Let me live in a world of image and I will never complain." --Louise Bourgeois
arianamaniacs   Advanced AUSTRIA Member since 6/11/04 Posts: 938	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 8/15/12 3:51 AM I didn't read all the posts yet, but my first thought when I saw the topic headline was "YES" But velvet has different problems than what you describe. It's notorious for scooching while you're trying to sew a seam. Fabric that pulls apart at the seams like you describe is bad quality. -- Edited on 8/15/12 3:53 AM --
ahrizel Beginner PA Member since 4/22/12 Posts: 293	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 8/15/12 3:01 PM Oh this stuff scooches as I sew alright. It also shows the indent from the feed dogs where I sew it, and any marks that were put on it. And I'll have burgundy bits in the carpets for months. The good thing is I'm almost done with the darn stuff. The skirt is finished, and once my hubby brings home one more packet of bias tape, the bodice is done. The irony is it looks pretty nice, but it was a nightmare to deal with. I'm kinda glad the pattern called for a bias tape finish, it will help hold it together better. And I uses bias tape at the hemline of the skirt too. Even with the bias tape, I overcast the the entire edge of the bodice before I put the bias on. I have more places to buy fabric both in person and online then I did then, but I will never touch this stuff again! Mary
JKimes   Expert/Couture TX USA Member since 11/4/05 Posts: 387	Login to reply to this post In reply to ahrizel << Like this post Date: 8/15/12 3:17 PM Sounds like some damaged corduroy I got from Hancock's a few years back. May have been in a fire--even if it isn't burned or smells like smoke, the heat can dry out the fabric and make it brittle. ------ Juliette near Austin, TX Bernina 830LE Bernina 350PE Babylock Evolution ElnaPro 905DCX

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